Features

SAN JOSE — Adobe Systems Inc., the second-largest PC software company, will announce Sunday a major upgrade to its photo editing program, Photoshop. 

Photoshop 7.0, slated to be available in April, is compatible with the newest operating systems from Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — Mac OS X and Windows XP. 

The software, however, is expected to be a boost for Apple, which introduced Mac OS X a year ago. 

Both Apple and Adobe cater strongly to creative professionals, and analysts think many of them delayed buying new Apple machines or upgrading to OS X to wait for more software, notably Photoshop, to run on the platform. 

“It’ll be extremely good for Apple,” said Ron Glaz, analyst with market research firm International Data Corp. “OS X didn’t take off in the graphic artist world because there was no Photoshop for it.” 

But the explosion in digital photography has made Photoshop attractive to consumers as well. Adobe estimates more than half of its Photoshop sales are to hobbyists and nonprofessionals. 

“Your average Joe is even longing for Photoshop products now,” said Ed Lee, analyst with Lyra Research. 

The new version further simplifies the photo editing process and adds many tools to alter images.